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Federal shutdown puts many migrants in limbo

PHOENIX — Luis Manuel Estrada Gonzalez waited years for his green-card hearing. As the date grew closer, the Mexican immigrant couldn't sleep because he was so anxious. The date finally arrived Tuesday, but the court was closed.

Federal shutdown puts many migrants in limbo

Many have waited years for their hearings. Now they may have to wait years more.

Luis Manuel Estrada Gonzalez, in front of the U.S. Immigration Court building in Phoenix, showed up at 9 a.m. Oct. 1, 2013, for his green card hearing only to find out that the immigration court was closed because of the federal government shutdown.(Photo: Mark Henle, The Arizona Republic)

Story Highlights

Immigration courts based inside detention centers remain open

People whose hearings are scheduled during federal shutdown will have to be rescheduled

Sometimes work permit, driver's license expirations are tied to original hearing date

The date finally arrived Tuesday. But when Estrada Gonzalez showed up at the U.S. immigration court here, he found a sign taped to the door. Gonzalez couldn't believe it: The court — unlike federal criminal, civil and bankruptcy courts — closed indefinitely because of the federal government shutdown.

Now his hearing will have to be rescheduled. And Estrada Gonzalez has no guarantee that he won't be put at the back of the line again.

"Frustrated," Estrada Gonzalez, 38, said in Spanish. "That's how I felt. I thought everything was going to be fine."

He isn't alone. As the shutdown continues, the lives of many immigrants awaiting hearings in immigration courts have been disrupted, immigration lawyers say.

"For most people, they have been waiting for years" for their hearings, said Elizabeth Chatham, an immigration lawyer here who chairs the Arizona chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "Now they are in a state of limbo."

Across the country, 16 immigration courts have been closed in the federal government's shutdown, according to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the branch of the U.S. Justice Department that oversees immigration courts.

Another 25 immigration courts have been partially closed and are hearing cases involving only immigrants who have been detained. Only the 20 immigration courts based inside detention centers remain open.

“For most people, they have been waiting for years. Now they are in a state of limbo.”

Elizabeth Chatham, American Immigration Lawyers Association

Immigrants with hearings scheduled while the courts are shut down may have to wait months, perhaps even years, before their hearings can be rescheduled because of the long backlogs of cases in immigration courts across the country, immigration lawyers say.

The closing of immigration courts also may add to existing backlogs, making all immigrants wait longer for hearings, they said.

The backlogs are largely the result of stepped-up immigration enforcement that has placed record numbers of immigrants in the country illegally into deportation proceedings following routine traffic stops by police.

Many immigrants awaiting hearings in immigration court are in deportation proceedings and are waiting to find out if they qualify for their deportation to be canceled. Others are awaiting asylum hearings to find out if they can remain in the U.S. legally because of political or some other form of persecution.

Jillian Kong-Sivert, a Phoenix immigration lawyer, said she had to inform a mother and daughter from Venezuela not to show up for their hearing Tuesday because the Phoenix immigration court was closed.

"They were furious. They were completely furious," Kong-Sivert said. The two women, ages 48 and 27, applied for asylum in 2009. They became eligible for green cards in 2011 after they both married U.S. citizens, but their cases have dragged on for years, Kong-Sivert said.

On Tuesday, they were going to ask an immigration judge to cancel their original asylum claims so they could apply for green cards through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. That agency is financed through fees and remains unaffected in the government shutdown.

Now they may have to wait several more years before their hearing is rescheduled, Kong-Sivert said.

"They feel completely abused by the system," Kong-Sivert said.

The Phoenix immigration court has three judges; each judge handles about 40 cases a week, estimated Gerald Burns, a Chandler, Ariz., immigration lawyer.

"The impact is going to be tremendous," he said. "When a judge calls in sick or the docket is canceled for any reason, the reschedule (hearings) are set out up to a year in the future. Right now, we have two full days of dockets that have been canceled. The accumulative effect to the respondents, to the immigration judges, to government counsel and the private bar can only be measured in years."

Emilia Banuelos, a Phoenix immigration lawyer, said the temporary closing of immigration courts has added to the anxiety of many immigrants whose hearings have been canceled and now will have to be rescheduled.

"There is a lot of uncertainty for them of what's going to happen," said Banuelos, who represents Estrada Gonzalez. "They are anxious about what's going to happen. Are they going to have to leave? Are they going to have to take their families with them? Huge decisions."

However, for some immigrants. temporarily closing immigration courts has an upside. For those with no chance of having their deportation cases canceled, the shutdown means they can remain in the U.S. longer until their deportation hearing is rescheduled, Banuelos said.

"In a way, for some of those who don't have relief, it's a good break for them," he said.

Not so for Estrada Gonzalez. He was originally put in deportation proceedings in 2009.

But he became eligible to legalize his status and receive a green card after marrying a woman whose mother is a naturalized U.S. citizen. The mother filed a petition on their behalf, Banuelos said.

All the paperwork had been submitted, and his green card had been approved. All that remained was the hearing, she said.

"It was a done deal," Banuelos said.

Now Estrada Gonzalez said he doesn't know when his green-card hearing will be rescheduled. Worse, his driver's license and his work permit both expired because they were tied to his hearing date. He can't renew either until a new hearing date is set.

"I waited for this date for years," said Estrada Gonzalez, who has lived in the United States for 16 years. "Now I don't have any idea what is going to happen to me."